2012 POY Finalists: Productivity Training Software

Finalists in the Productivity Training Software category for the Plant Engineering 2012 Product of the Year competition.

Brittany Merchut

11/19/2012

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Blended learning solutions

GPAllied’s inspired Blended Learning is designed to allow participants to take control of their learning experience through instructor led-classes, online curriculum, and skill applications within their facility or industrial environment. The training is a three-step process including a learning project kickoff, eLearning, and practical application. GPAllied inspired Blended Learning enables organizations to expand the capabilities of existing maintenance and reliability engineers and develop new maintenance and reliability engineers to meet growing needs. GPAllied employs its Rapid Improvement Process throughout the blended learning experience to ensure retention, alignment, and lasting change.

The newly developed Scramblizer by Ramsay Corporation allows online administration of test questions in a randomized order, so each test taker sees a different arrangement of test questions. The scrambling of test questions discourages cheating while allowing the use of computers in close proximity. With each test showing the questions in a different sequence, memorization of answers is discouraged in order to avoid communicating those answers to others. The tests are machine-scored without the possibility of hand-scoring errors. With the answers on each item reported in their original order, test administrators can easily compare test-takers’ results.

FactoryTalk VantagePoint 4.0 Software is designed to simplify the end-user experience, include connectivity to additional Rockwell Automation products, and provide native integration to Microsoft SharePoint 2010. The software lets users expose plant floor data to the enterprise and provides capabilities like business intelligence, collaboration, and communications. The software connects real-time, historical, relational, and transactional data sources to create a single resource that can access, aggregate, and correlate information into a common, unified model. The Web-based dashboards and reports monitor key performance indicators and help empower users at every level of an enterprise to better manage their operation in real time.

Tango Mobile Rounds Logging software designed for a smartphone or tablet allows reliability information management to take place in real time and in process. Tango Mobile Rounds Logging is an economical way to involve operators and mechanics in a plant's reliability program. Numeric readings can be set for low and high alarm levels. Tango QR codes can be installed on equipment by plant personnel, contractors, or repair vendors. Users can quickly scan a QR code with Tango Mobile and instantly view condition monitoring history, equipment repair history, equipment design details, and linked documents.

Annual Salary Survey

Before the calendar turned, 2016 already had the makings of a pivotal year for manufacturing, and for the world.

There were the big events for the year, including the United States as Partner Country at Hannover Messe in April and the 2016 International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago in September. There's also the matter of the U.S. presidential elections in November, which promise to shape policy in manufacturing for years to come.

But the year started with global economic turmoil, as a slowdown in Chinese manufacturing triggered a worldwide stock hiccup that sent values plummeting. The continued plunge in world oil prices has resulted in a slowdown in exploration and, by extension, the manufacture of exploration equipment.